


drop off

by sunnithesunflower



Series: The Ever-growing Book Of Merthur [6]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arthur Knows About Merlin's Magic (Merlin), Arthur doesn't know how to deal with kids but he's trying, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt Merlin (Merlin), I actually had to research if Tesco had plastic or paper bags lmao, Light Angst, M/M, Modern Era, Oblivious Merlin (Merlin), This was kind of a huge excuse to write a lot of soft!arthur, Worried Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), arthur's honestly such a softie in this fic, it's 1 am and this has only been half beta read, merlin and arthur go shopping together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26973406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnithesunflower/pseuds/sunnithesunflower
Summary: Merlin and Arthur drop the kids off at school. Arthur notices something's up with Merlin and he's determined to find out.The second part tocommence secret mission; get these two idiots togetherin my series mini matchmakers. Can be read alone but it would be better if you read the part that came before it first.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: The Ever-growing Book Of Merthur [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916428
Kudos: 81





	drop off

**Author's Note:**

> it's 1 am and here I am again. Thank you to my beta readers :)) but basically they only helped me with half of it, the rest I literally just wrote like a couple of minutes/hours ago. I started writing/finishing it at 11 and I finally finished it yayyy. Editing is an absolute pain. Sorry for any mistakes and I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Also I know I said this wasn't going to be long but let me liveeeee
> 
> edit again: sorry but I forgot to say this. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO LEFT A KUDOS on my merlin fics and especially on _I will always find you; whether it be land, sea or sky._
> 
> I CANT BELIEVE I GOT 100 KUDOS LIKE THANK YOU SO MUCH OMG- okay now let's go :)

Arthur sighed as he ushered the kids to the table, grabbing the cereal box and some milk for their breakfast. He was tired. Pouring himself a cup of dark coffee, he rubbed his temples and braced himself for what was coming. School. Merlin was usually the one helping the kids to get ready, and he did it surprisingly well, Arthur thought as he raised the bitter drink to his lips, wincing slightly as he burned his tongue from the all-too-hot coffee, despite knowing better.  


Isabel slowly approached him and grabbed his hands. He smiled and put his coffee down, placing his full attention onto the eight year old. 

"Can you do my pigtails Uncle Arthur?" She asked with a shy smile. Panic went through Arthur briefly. He didn't know _anything_ about hair styling. "Of course." He said, his voice sounding slightly strained and instantly dropping his smile when she turned around, so that her mix of dark and brown curls faced him.

Oh gods. He didn't know the first thing about tying hair. Where was Merlin when he needed him? 

_Still asleep apparently,_ he thought as his eyes raised to the upper floor, where the clumsy idiot most likely slept. He had started staying over since he was kicked out of his apartment, completely out of the blue. Arthur offered him a place to stay for a while before he could get his place back. Plus, he was supposed to look after these three children for a whole week! He most definitely couldn't do that with Merlin. 

Looking at the mix of dark and brown curls, he scrunched up his face in concentration and tried to braid the soft locks together. The result was… interesting. Arthur thought it was some of his best work as he took a couple steps back and admired the strange shapes he'd created. It seems as if it was a mutation of two hairstyles combining horribly.  


Isabel smiles at him thankfully before inspecting the braids. "I don't think that's the way you do it Uncle Arthur…"

Arthur frowns. "I'm sure it's fine. It looks great!" He exclaims with a nervous chuckle before his attention is drawn to the stairs as he hears footsteps descending. 

_Thank the gods._

Merlin looked like the absolute definition of I-just-woke-up-and-want-to-go-back-to-sleep-so-leave-me-alone. His dark locks are messy and tousled as they stick up in different directions and his eyes are still half closed. Arthur smiles softly at his appearance, taking in his morning look. However, that was not all that he noticed. His gentle expression leaves his face and his eyebrows furrow in concern as he takes in the dark bags under his eyes and how pale and sickly his face looks. 

"Well, you look awful," he teases, trying to appeal to the usual banter between them, but couldn't keep the concern out of his voice as he watched the warlock approach the kitchen to create a drink - preferably, coffee or tea. 

Merlin keeps quiet as he takes a cup from the dish rack nearby and pours some dark coffee into it. That was unusual. Merlin didn't drink dark coffee often, and when he did it wasn't always a good sign. The last time he did drink some was when Arthur had pushed him away for a newer, better assistant—he regretted the incident massively after learning that all Cedric had wanted was access to some forbidden files and their vault—and after his father’s funeral, which he knew Merlin had only met once and wished that he could have been there, no— _should_ have been there for him but was too busy with financial matters continuously pressed by his uncle.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asks, leaning across the marble tabletop, trying to get the sorcerer to face him. 

"Nothing. I'm fine," he mumbles out quietly, taking a gulp of the dark, bitter substance that he was not used to and gagged quietly as his face scrunched up in disgust.

_"Merlin."_

_"Arthur."_ He said in the exact same tone, moving away from the blond to check the kids if they were ready for school.

Arthur growled in frustration.

"Are you sure you're actually able to drive this morning Merlin?"

"Always have been."

Arthur snorts in disbelief. "You certainly don't look like it." 

Merlin glowers at him and moves quickly, ushering the kids outside and Arthur along with him as they take their seats in Merlin’s worn down, about-to-break, dusty wreck of a car. He sighs quietly, simply not having the strength and energy to give out a witty remark while just turning on the ignition—which sputters and coughs loudly, taking it several tries to be working properly—and drives the—surprisingly quiet—children in the backseat to school.  


***

“Merlin, please. Please tell me. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Merlin looked up from the cart of oranges at the supermarket. He’d been quiet all day and Arthur was getting increasingly worried. 

“Why?” said Merlin quietly, moving to a dairy aisle, picking out some milk and cheese while trying to avoid his boss.

“Because you haven’t been yourself all day! Because I care about you!” Arthur explodes, blushing lightly when he realizes the words he’s said. 

“You.. care?” Merlin says, a surprised note in his voice eventually overwhelmed with an emotion Arthur can’t describe.

“Of course I do,” Arthur says softly, still blushing as he reaches over and holds Merlin’s hands in his own. “You can tell me anything… alright?”

The warlock keeps quiet before locking eyes with the blond, a small smirk on his face. Sadness and exhaustion are still swirling within him but he looks better than he had before, a lot more light in his expression. 

“Does that mean I can tell you that you’re a Clotpole?”

Arthur laughs as he looks back, a smile gracing his face. “Definitely not.”

“That’s just too bad. Guess I’ll just keep telling you that anyway.”

Arthur gives no reply, instead he smiles with a small shake of his head and doesn’t let go of Merlin’s hands as he leads him to the checkout. The store is rather quiet apart from some chatter across customers spread out through the small supermarket. It's cold but the silence is not an unwelcome one, it's more of a cozy, secure one, with unsaid words in the air but a comfortable stillness as Merlin starts to take out his wallet to pay for the groceries. Arthur hesitates again, before he gently squeezes the ravenette’s hands, pulling him closer in advance, murmuring quietly in his ear. “Hey. Don’t. I’ll pay. Really, it's fine.”

Merlin just looks at him, a dark pink blush appearing on his cheeks, mumbling ‘okays’, ‘you really don’t have to’s’ and a ‘thank you’. Arthur smirks lightly, he knows how poor his assistant is and even with Arthur paying him, the warlock sends half of his income to his mother, barely keeping enough for himself. 

_Sometimes the idiot was too selfless for his own good._ Arthur thought fondly as the cashier accepted his credit card and started putting the items into bags and shoving a receipt into his hand as he resurfaced out of his thoughts.

Stepping out of the Tesco, they both carry an equal amount of paper bags filled with groceries. Stumbling over to Merlin’s car, the two haphazardly open the door and shove the purchases in the backseat before sliding into their seats at the front. Merlin goes to the driver’s seat but Arthur’s quicker and lands in the seat first. Merlin, however, barely noticed this—because he was exhausted as heck and was practically in his own little dream world—resulting in his falling into Arthur’s lap where the once empty seat had been. Arthur lets out a short shout before wrapping his arms around Merlin’s waist involuntarily. It only takes seconds for them to realize the awkward position they’re in and both men equally blush red. Arthur takes his hands off the warlock’s waist and Merlin yelps, jumping out of Arthur’s lap in an instant, muttering feverish apologies and avoiding his eyes before taking his place at the passenger's seat in the front. A deathly silence greets them before the two finally turn and look at each other, deciding to speak in unison.

“So, I—”

“I didn’t—”

They both chuckle lightly.

Arthur speaks first. Merlin listens.

"I… I meant what I said in the shop Merlin. You can tell me anything, I promise."

"I know." The younger man says tenderly, with a grateful gaze as he leans back in the worn leather car seat.

Arthur returns a gaze and smile of his own. He eventually starts the ignition which unfortunately _doesn't_ start.

"It's not working."

"I can see that."

" _Mer_ lin. It's _your_ car, tell me how to fix it."

"I have no idea how to fix it, it's always been like that." Merlin shrugs, unbothered.

Arthur sighs and tries once again. The engine roars into life before coughing and sputtering out before dying completely for the fifth time.

"Have you never considered using magic to fix it? I mean, that's the whole reason you have it in the first place, isn't it?"

Merlin shoves him.

"The main reason I have it is so that I can protect you, you dollopheaded, supercilious, idiotic, patronising, _ass._ "

"Clotpole."

"Hey, that's my word!"

"Too bad, it's mine now." Arthur smirks, his eyes shining mischievously.

"Well, then, take it back!"

"Make me."

"Maybe I will." 

"Oh really? How do you propose to do that?" says Arthur, proud that he's able to keep his voice steady as he stares at Merlin, blue eyes flickering all over the younger man's face, trailing from his black locks of hair to his slender cheekbones and finally ending at his lips. Merlin doesn't notice.

"I don't know, I'm just thinking about telling Morgana and the Knights about the Rice Krispie Incident." came the cheeky reply and Arthur pulled his eyes away from him, choosing to stare at something, _anything,_ that wasn't Merlin.

"You wouldn't." Arthur says in horror as a small gasp escapes from him.

"Oh, I totally would. You underestimate me, Arthur Pendragon."

A comfortable silence is laid on top of them, like a warm blanket when neither speaks. Arthur shivers lightly at the tone Merlin had used to say his full name. It was actually quite hot, Arthur admitted to himself and could barely keep himself from leaning over and kissing him senseless right then and there. _Dear gods,_ Merlin was winding him up more and more these past few days and Arthur could barely take it anymore. 

The dark haired warlock props his head on the top of the car seat, looking straight at the blond, before breaking the silence.

"Now my question is why are you even in the driver's seat in the first place."

"You looked tired. So I thought it was my turn to drive."

"I look tired plenty of times and you _never_ do that."

"Well, today I did."

Merlin doesn't answer. He looks at the blond thoughtfully before sighing and slumping into his seat.

Arthur frowns at the sudden action and he leans closer to the ravenette. "What is it?"

"I… I've been having nightmares… again."

"Is that what's been bothering you?"

"Yes."

Arthur pauses before taking a breath and asking another question. "What do you mean again?"

"I mean… well.. After my Father's death, I started to have nightmares… about him. About other people too. Will, Freya. Hell, even Uther!" Merlin pauses, taking a shuddering breath. 

It's clear to see he doesn't like talking about it but the fact alone that he _trusts_ Arthur with this information makes the blond feel all warm and fuzzy inside, as if he'd just drank a lot of hot chocolate with those special marshmallows Merlin loves to put in. 

Merlin continues, breaking Arthur out of his thoughts. "They've come back. They've come back, Arthur and I don't know what to do. I feel like I'm slowly cracking, slipping from the verge of sanity and _gods,_ Arthur, I don't know what to do, I don't—"

Arthur stares. He's never seen Merlin so openly distraught and it breaks his heart. He wants to embrace him and tell him it's all going to be alright, and hold him in his arms, until he stops and relaxes, he wants him to know that he's safe and that most of all, he is _loved._ Instead, he reaches over and grabs his hands again, just like he did in the shop. This time however, it is more intimate, more caring. He slowly rubs circles with his thumb in Merlin's palms, caressing them, trying to get him to calm down.

"Shh, it's alright. It's alright, Merlin."

Merlin goes quiet, slight tension releasing in his shoulders as silent tears fall down his face. Arthur lets him cry softly into his shoulder, pressing his head to the younger man's neck, whispering soft mutterings and reassurances in his ear. Arthur's never felt this way before, and he isn't sure what to make of it. Usually, people crying make him uncomfortable and he's all prattish and awkward around them, not helping the situation at all. However, when he's there, holding a crying Merlin in his arms he barely feels any discomfort. He feels... comfortable almost, and when the young man in front of him is sobbing his heart out on Arthur's shoulder all he wants to do is figure out a way to make sure Merlin never feels like that again.

A few short minutes later, Merlin pulls back from Arthur's embrace, letting the blond wipe several stray tears off his cheeks. 

"I'm sorry." says Merlin, his voice hoarse.

"It's alright." Arthur reassures, his hand cupping the ravenette's cheek and softly tracing his cheekbones for a while before dropping his hands to the steering wheel. He'd turned the ignition on again but they had both forgotten about it in the heat of the moment.

"We should head home." Arthur spoke, softly.

"Yeah, we need to pick up the kids from their violin lessons." Merlin's voice is still hoarse and quiet. "Thank you." He continues, reaching over to squeeze Arthur's hand for the last time. He moves his hand away and Arthur feels a slight sadness, missing the warmth of his fingers and how they seemingly fit perfectly within his own. He smiles at him, but doesn't answer hoping Merlin will understand. The warlock smiles back at him, understanding the meaning of the smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I was planning for a more angsty, whumpy kind of route for this chapter but the I don't control the writing, it controls me and this is what it wants apparently. Anyways I hope you enjoyed that! I haven't posted anything in a short while because I had a whole week of tests and exams so that was exhausting. I practically failed my algebra exam by two marks and I was very pissed at that because I needed more time and it wasn't our fault that the teacher was 5 minutes late! ugh I'm sorry, I'm ranting now. Schools over for now, and I've got a week of holiday so yay! I'll probably post more now and if I don't then sorry about that but I'll try too :))
> 
> final edit: oh my god html takes such a long time to edit in ughh.. it almost 2 am already geez. Sorry if this is kinda bad, it's just my night brain. Goodnight!


End file.
